Moon Lake
by GagaBear18
Summary: Moon Lake, Mississippi. Your average small town where everyone knows everything about every resident. Boring yet safe. But when the murders start taking place a week after New Yorker Nicholas Walker moves to town, the town is anything but boring or safe. Like my mama always said to me, "Lies are just truths wrapped in illusions." FAX.
1. Chapter 1

I have never really thought about death until now. Because, how many sane teenage girls think about death? Not many. Especially not an ordinary small town girl that lived in a small town like Moon Lake, Mississippi.

But I guess I wasn't really sane or ordinary any more. After all, I was drowning at the bottom of a lake. If it was possible, I would probably be laughing hysterically considering how people said you were supposed to watch a movie titled, _My Screwed-Up Life_ before you "left this world." Would an ordinary, sane, small town girl think that? Didn't think so either.

That's not how it was for me. Nope. I was left in deafening silence, contemplating the choices I'd made over the past week that got me to this very situation. I was left wondering, what are people gonna think when they find me? Are they gonna think I committed suicide? Or are they gonna know, just absolutely know, that I was murdered? But, that's quiet unlikely isn't it?

So many emotions rolled through me. Fear, anger, sorrow and pain. In the heat of the moment, it became difficult to differentiate one emotion from the other.

Truthfully, I wasn't all too scared or freaked out about dying. Weird? Tell me about it. It was what would happen to my mother, Valencia, and my sister, Ella, when I was gone. It disturbed me somewhat that those thoughts just ran through my head.

I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Maximum Ride, and this is the story of how I died. I guess starting at the beginning would help, wouldn't it? Well, it all started with Nicholas "Fang" Walker.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, and the town Moon Lake, Mississippi, is purely fictional to my knowledge. **

* * *

I was brought up in a small town where everyone knew everything about every resident. I was not excluded from this... Circle of information.

But let me tell you, when the most exciting thing that happened all year was the Beauty Pageant, and it was a humongous deal to the locals. So it definitely stirred up much more excitement when a new student enrolled into to our local high school; Moon Lake High. Almost as big as when Maya Chu ran away and turned up, on the side of the road with a bottle of Jack Daniels in her hand. But I don't think it was that big. Almost but not quite.

And it was especially a big deal when you lived in Moon Lake, Mississippi. A small town with the population of only 3,000.

It was just like any other typical hot humid day at Moon Lake High when he came inside the geometry room along with the principal, Ms. Greene. The plus-sized geometry teacher scurried out of his seat and whispered something in Ms. Greene's ear. She nodded.

"Class," the principal announced. "this is Nicholas Walker. He's just moved from New York City and I would like it if you made him feel welcome." Ms. Greene flashed an award winning smile, flipping her hair over shoulder as she exited the room.

The geometry teacher, Mr. Jekyll pointed towards the empty seat next to me, handed him the assignment, and muttered something in his ear. Most likely telling him to take a seat in that chair. Nicholas followed and slunk into the desk.

When Mr. Jekyll, most students just called him Mr. Hyde, sat back at his desk, I leaned across the isle to his desk. After all, I was in the back of the classroom and no body was gonna tattle on Maximum Ride. "Yo, I'm Max. You call me anything but that and I'll kick your ** to next Tuesday. You don't look like a Nicholas. Or a Nick. Also, you do realize that this school is gonna eat you alive 'cause of that emo outfit you've got going on, right?"

No doubt the school was gonna eat him alive. His black hair swooped over his left eye and his visible eye was pure black with flecks of something in it. His ensemble of black clothes consisted of black skinny jeans, black combat boots, and a black T-shirt. How was he not dying from the heat? Hell, I was wearing a coral colored tank top, mid-thigh shorts, and black converse and I was still dying in the heat. I even grew up here! What is wrong with this guy?

He smirked and muttered with his New Yorker accent, "Nice to meet you, Max. Call me anyth—"

"Mr. Walker, I suggest you get back to work. I also suggest you make better friends than Miss Ride," Mr. Hyde sneered.

Ouch. Sheesh, no need to get personal gosh. People these days. Rolling my eyes I reclined in the desk, propping my feet up on the desk.

"Miss Ride! Detention!" He yelled.

I smirked. Ah, the joys of high school. "Yessir, Mr. Jekyll," I replied with a fake salute. He narrowed his eyes at me when I didn't bother to move my feet.

Eventually, I figured wasting my glare on him was useless. I slung my feet of the desk and laced my fingers behind my head.

Nicholas leaned over and whispered, "Since I don't look like a Nicholas or a Nick to you, call me Fang."

With that he sat back up in his chair and went back to his geometry assignment. Huh, I thought. Fang. I like it.

Now, that was the first time I ever met Nicholas "Fang" Ride. It was also mistake number one


	3. Chapter 3

**I love feedback so tell me whatcha thinkin'. Note: Angel and Ella are Freshman's, Gazzy is a Sophomore, Nudge is a Junior, and Iggy, Max, and Fang are Seniors. Lissa is a Senior, too. Also, the updates on this might not be close together but the maximum amount of time you will have to wait is a month. **

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Two periods later and a stomach that was eating its way from the inside out, lunch was finally upon me and my merry band of pyros and hackers.

Plopping down at our table with something that resembled meatloaf, I did a head check. Pyros: Iggy and Gazzy. Check. Hackers/manipulative devils: Nudge and Angel. Check. But where was...

"Hiya, Max," Ella, my younger sister who was a freshman with Angel, chirped in my ear.

"'Sup, girl?" I asked, bending my head back so I could see her face.

"The sky, Max." Ella stuck her tongue out at me.

"Mature, Els," I remarked, sticking my tongue back out at her.

"She learned from the best, Max," a male voice sighed. The belonged of the voice plopped down next to me. F–Nick. I was not going to call him Fang. Of all the nicknames in the world... Oh what the hell. I'll just call him Fang. Or Fangles...

I narrowed my eyes at him, judging him. I excluded the clothes. The boy could dress how ever the hell he wanted as long as as he wasn't a lunatic. When I deemed him weird but safe enough to be apart of society (my merry band of thieves also populated that genre of humans), I grinned. "Whatdya talkin' about, Fangles? This is Maximum Ride you're talkin' about. The chick who _thrives _off of maturity. If I was immature, then my teachers wouldn't give me detention. They're just jealous of my maturity," I said, all of it with a straight face and I even added a nonchalant shrug to the end of it.

Iggy and Gazzy stopped plotting a bomb long enough to snort at my reply. Nudge said nothing as she licked her finger and turned the page of her _Elle_ magazine, but her eyebrows raised and she made a distasteful face. Angel shook her head and looked at the ceiling as if asking God why I was the way I was. Ella raised her eyebrow at me before going back to pick at the lump of food that was supposed to be meatloaf. Fang smirked and turned back to the mush on his lunch tray.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "You'll never understand her, so don't try..." Nudge trailed off.

"Nick, but call me Fang," he replied. "And don't worry. I'm not even gonna try to understand Max. She's too barbaric." Fang winked at me.

As I opened my mouth to retort a comment that involved mock hurt, high heels clicked behind me. I plastered on a fake smile and turned around in my seat. "Why, hello, Lissa. What are you doing over here?"

She returned the fake smile. "Oh, I'm just here to welcome Nicholas here to our fine town." Lissa turned to Fang, flipping her red, curly, high pony tail behind her head. She extended her hand to Fang, expecting him to kiss it. He did, oddly enough. "Hi, I'm Lissa. We have second period Lit. together?"

Fang nodded. "Yeah, nice to meet you Lissa."

I couldn't believe how neutral he was. I would've ran. She was just _too_ polite. Well, for now. Just wait 'til she played the pastor's daughter card and claimed him to be a devil worshiper. It's happened before, except it to was to this girl named Clarisse. Poor girl. Lissa targeted her just 'cause one of the football boys thought she was cute. Clarisse ended up moving to Texas, I think.

Lissa smiled again at Fang. "Well, I'll see y'all around, now. Bye!" With that Lissa spinned on her heel and went to her posse to gossip about how "the new kid kissed her hand and they had English Lit. together second period."

Fang turned to me and gave me a look. I sighed an exasperated sigh. "That was Lissa, as you may well know her name by now. She's the pastor's daughter and she's a real charmer at first but then she'll turn into the devil himself if she has even the slightest reason to. Just a hint here, avoid any trouble you can from that girl."

Fang nodded in an understanding manner. The lunch bell rang and I stood up out of my chair, walked to the trash can, and dumped the mush on my lunch plate into it. "Well, I gotta get to class or Mr. Brunner will give me detention again and then my mom will take away my car and then no rides for you all so buh bye. Whatdya got for class, Fang?" I asked turning to him as the rest of my gang hustled to their appointed classrooms.

"Physics," he answered right away.

"M'kay. Well, come with me. You have class with me." Fang nodded, stood and followed me to Physics.

The rest of the Monday was uneventful. The rest of the week was, too. The same crappy lunch, the same daily routine of going to class and then going to a different class. Well, I should say it was uneventful until Friday. That was the day of the first murder.


	4. Chapter 4

The day of the first murder was uneventful. Just like the rest of the week. Well, I should probably say boring until eighth period, when I had PE and Health. It was a health day and we were going over the side effects of Meth and Cocaine when the over com came on. The majority of the class kept talking, thinking it was only an announcement for the Beauty Pageant that was coming up and we girls already knew the details from our mothers pounding them into our head, my mother was not an exception, and the boys just didn't care for the Pageant other than the fact that they saw us girls in mortifyingly short dresses.

"_All grades please report to the auditorium. All grades please report to the auditorium. Thank you._" The words struck us with confusion, leaving us wondering.

But we all complied with the orders, more for our curiosity than the fear of detention. As I entered the auditorium, my head whipped around, trying to find my friends. I spotted Iggy and Fang with Ella and Angel sitting together. Gazzy walked in from the other door on the other side of the auditorium and Nudge popped up next to me, and, for once, was silent. We all were. I think at the time we sensed there was something wrong.

When we were all seated, the principal, Miss Greene, and the vice principal, Mr. Reyes, walked onto the stage platform. Their faces were somber. Miss Greene picked up a wireless microphone and brought it to her lips. "Today, students, I have brought you here to announce a very unfortunate event." She took a deep breath. "Brigid Reeds' body was found yesterday night."

The entire auditorium gasped and then stared up in a collage of whispers. "It was brought to our attention that she committed suicide and that she was bullied almost daily."

I saw a few girls in the back of the large room duck their heads in shame, namely Lissa and her posse. Brigid was a nice enough girl and I couldn't imagine why anyone would bully the girl to the point where she didn't want to live. Or bully her for that matter. She was pretty, in a girl-next-door kind of way with pale blond hair and pale green eyes to match, smart, she was a brainiac in all of her Science classes I'd heard, and wasn't a bitch to people. But this was Lissa we were talking about. Only God knew why she was so... _vicious_.

For the next hour until school let out, Miss Greene talked about the conseqences of bulling and things like that. The whole room had a somber and greiving feel. When the release bell rang, we all scurried off to our lockers in silence.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, so this story is now being Beta Read by _Miss Fallen-Talent. _R&R!**

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After walking in the southern heat, I finally arrived at my house. It was a two story, four bedroom farm-house with a large porch and a huge backyard that contained my mother's garden. The porch was painted olive-green, the same for the shutters and trimming, and a wicker swing with cream cushions was on the right side of it. On the left side was a large potted plant that was in full bloom. The shingles on top were a classic black and the siding was a shade or two lighter of a cream than the wicker swing's cushions. Two French styled doors were what the entrance was and the glass was crystal clear, to an extent where you couldn't even see it. There were two windows with olive shutters and a flower box on each side of the door. Three regular windows were on the second floor on the front of the house. The lawn was green and cut. A little stone walkway lead up to the porch. In the back there was my mom's flower garden, the pool, and the well-kept patio. I shook my head. You could say my family was... well off.

My dad was an ornithologist, aka a birdologist, and my mom worked part-time at vetanary clinic. My father was well-known in his field and he made quite a bit of money. They both wanted me to go into an animal science of some sort, but science had always given me the heebie jeebies. I preferred contact sports and speech and debate to physics at school.

When I walked inside the house, my mother was nowhere to be found. I did smell chocolate chip cookies, though, but after finding out that a girl just committed suicide, I wasn't up for the little piece of heaven. I sighed for no reason and threw my little, plain black backpack on the floor by the coat rack. I then kicked off my worn Converse shoes.

Walking into the kitchen and spotting the plate of cookies, my mother walked in from the back door with her garden gloves in one hand and the other wiping her brow. My mother smiled a brilliant smile and plopped down on a stool next to me at the little island that was in the middle of the kitchen. "So how was school, sweetie?" She asked, popping a cookie into her mouth.

I stared at the granite marble before mumbling, "Brigid Reeds killed herself."

My mother's eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her non-garden-gloved hand. "Oh my..." she gasped.

"Yeah, Lissa and her group bullied her a lot apparently."

"Lissa? As in Lissa Thorton? The daughter of Pastor Jared Thorton?"

"Yes, Lissa Thorton," I replied with a sigh.

"But she always seemed like a sweet girl when I've met her..." My mother mumbled.

"Yeah, well, she's a bitch in reality."

"Language, young lady!" My mother sighed and rubbed her temples. "Where's Ella?"

"With Angel," I replied.

"Go get started on your homework, Max."

For once I didn't argue. I headed up to my room that had navy walls, dark wood floors with a white rug, an oak antique dresser, a desk, and my queen-sized bed with navy sheets, a white comforter, and black pillows. I flopped into my bed and my homework was just a distant memory compared to the sleep that had overcome me.


	6. Chapter 6

When I awoke up the next day, I groaned. Today our father was getting back from some out-of-the-country trip and, don't get me wrong, I loved my dad. We just had a rocky relationship considering he was gone three fourths of the year. He had a tendency to try and buy affection.

Shaking my head and successfully rolling onto the floor with a loud thump, my sister, Ella, burst through the door. "PAGEANT SHOPPING!" She screamed._  
_

I groaned and whispered, "Is it really March? Already?"

"March 1st, bright and sunny!" She chirped.

"Remind me why I'm doing this?"

"Because you wanted to one up Lissa and shove it in her face 'cause you're going to college this fall and hopefully never ever see her again."

I sighed. "Give me an hour."

• • •

"Ohmigod, Max! This would soo go with your skin tone and hair. But the last one would go with your eyes..." Ella bit her lip, mentally debating between the last dress I'd tried on and the red dress had on now that reminded me of what the celebrities wore on the red carpet. Elegant-ish but still managed to scream "_slut!"_ with the slit that went to my thigh on the side that basically showed my entire right leg and the straps were sliding off mt shoulders. At least that's what I thought.

I rolled my eyes. "Just pick one, Ells. I don't really care."

"Don't really care?! Don't really _care_?! Oh, Hell to the no, sister! What about one upping Lissa?! Hm? Hm?!" Ella flipped her hair over her shoulder and stared at me through narrowed eyes, her mouth quirked to shows she was joking.

I shrugged. "I dunno, El. Maybe I should just, like... TP her house? I wasn't even my idea to do this."

"She'd know it was you, Max. Plus! You'd beat her at her own game! That's, like, triple the victory!"

"And quadruple the pain," I muttered.

"Well, too late to object now. I've bought the dress and mom will be pissed if I just wasted $123.64."

My eyes widened when I realized that I had slowly been following Ella to he cash register and Ella was now holding a grey bag that had elegant, silvery lettering reading _Christine's Boutique. "_Which one did you get?" I asked, afraid of the answer.

"The green one," she chirped.

"Thank God!" I moaned. "I was afraid that you'd gotten that absolutely hideous yellow dress." I fake-shuddered.

"Grow up, Max." Ella rolled her dark brown eyes.

"Look who's talkin'—" I was it off by a loud growl. "Food, we must get food," I declared, completely cutting off my last topic, and ran back to the dressing rooms to get back in my street clothes before I started to haul Ella with me to the Chinese buffet located in, of course, the food court.

When we reached the food court, I was hit by a wall of grease and delicious smelling things. I promptly started to drag Ella behind me, me eyes scouting out the buffet. I found it and we entered, getting a table for two and Ella whispering to me that I shouldn't attempt and cook the sushi _at all_ this time. It's a long story that I don't have the time to tell.

An hour and a half later, we were waddling out of the buffet and head toward the bathroom to get cleaned up.

There were three teenage girls, maybe 13, chattering about the "great deal" they'd heard about in some name brand store. They looked me up and down, taking in my jean shorts and violet tank with the ratty Converse, before turning their noses up and stalking out of the bathroom.

_Little girls and their insecurities, _I scoffed, walking to the sink and washing my hands and face off.

_But you're insecure, too, _a little voice in my head whispered back.

_Shut up_, I growled back.

When I looked up in the mirror, I went ridged. A girl's face was in it. Wet, limp, dark-blond tendrils framed her face and her face itself was a hauntingly pale shade of blue-ish grey. What made me freeze in terror the most was her eyes. A light chocolate brown. The exact same color as my eyes. And the emotions in them... were... devastating. Alone. Scared. Angry.

I blinked and she was still there. And slowly, ever ever slowly, her eyes drifted to one of the stalls and she pointed. I turned my head to follow her spindly, pale hand and when my eyes looked back in the mirror, she was gone.

I started to walk toward door and I could hear Ella calling my name in concern. She sounded miles away and muffled.

I pushed the door open and there, sitting in the corner of the stall, was Vanessa Witherson, one of Lissa's posse members.

Ella gasped and I heard the click of her phone hitting the tile. Then I heard the faint sound of, "_911, what's your emergency?"_

The only thought that was crossing my mind, though, at the time was,_ "Am I going insane?"_


	7. AN

Okay, guys. So this is obviously NOT a chapter.

I've kinda just lost interest in writing this with all the prolonged posts and craziness in my life. So if anyone is interesting in adopting Moon Lake, PM and we'll work something out.

Sorry guys! I don't like abandoning my stories, but its kinda hard to write when you have just lost excitement in it.


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